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I do like this suit other than the hood which I find a pain. The mesh constantly presses on to my face and is so stiff it acts like a cheese grater! I've tried wearing a baseball cap to no avail. Bit of a long shot but does anyone know which, if any, replacement hoods might fit the zipper. I...

10 up for grabs. It would appear the seasonal option is now defunct and when not on beekeeping duties you'll be part of the plant inspection teams?

In the title really. Does anyone use a brush uncapper combined with a wax screw press? The wax flakes from the uncapper are pretty small so I'm wondering whether they bypass the filters on the press? Thanks

Top tip, use the search engine

Ran a little experiment over winter by leaving the 'english style' feeder on 50 colonies. I used an eke with plenty of insulation and the hives are poly with a small square of mess in the floor. Checked them all properly yesterday and the water in the feeder varied from 0 to around 10mm deep...

Hmmm, filed in the 'too good to be true' section. Normally I use a queenless cell starter for my grafts but thought I'd try Mr harden's method for a change. Basically an utter failure despite both following it religiously and making subtle adjustments to each cycle. Out of 20 grafts my normal...

Been approached by a fellow market trader who would love some bees on/near the woodland they own. Telford area so bit too far for me. PM me if you're interested and I'll pass his details on.

Been approached by a fellow market trader who would love some bees on/near the woodland they own. Telford area so bit too far for me. PM me if you're interested and I'll pass his details on.

Received my new suit yesterday from one of the more premium suppliers. Used for the first time today and received a sting to the ear. Upon inspection, a number of teeth were missing from the suit zip, therefore when the hood was zipped on a gap formed. After I sent an email I received a...

Gamekeeper spoke to me today and said the Heather beetle is looking bad this year. Does anyone know if it affects yield? Also has anyone tried abelo's adjustable galvanised hive stands?

As per the title. Taking in to account the obvious: yearly differences, drone population, location etc. Just wondered how late into summer my fellow queen rearers continue their work?

Swarm interrupted play between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Chester le Street earlier.

As per the title. Had numerous virgins either disappear all together or badly/not mated. Starter colonies are only rearing a few grafts per batch (despite feeding). Had a look around a few apiaries today and saw numerous dead drones that have been evicted so the next batch of queens may not be...

What a great idea - in theory.... Purchased about 30 boxes worth a couple of years ago. Overall too many issues for me, including: random comb; can be slow to draw out; buckling and popping out of the frame. New one for me this year was the drawn comb detached from the plastic and the honey...

Having run my cappings through a wax spinner I'm left with 100+lbs of cloudy honey. At first I thought it was micro bububbles but having left it at 40c for a day it's not cleared and the cloudiness appears to be tiny fragments of wax that refuse to float. Tried filtering but it clogs immediately...

Does anyone purposely use strong colonies to exclusively draw comb in supers? As we know drawn comb is worth it's weight in gold when there is a flow on. Is it possible/sensible to heavily feed strong colonies weak syrup and get them to draw boxes of super foundation? Goes without saying...

I've got a couple of colonies that are too unpleasant to work and are in the process of swarming. I've removed the queens to nucs and reduced the qcs to one. Ultimately the colonies will likely be split up into nucs with mated queens introduced. Unfortunately the queens, or indeed qcs, won't...

Anyone got information/experience they'd like to share of the equipment in the title? Thanks

I'm thinking of drilling a hole in one of the feeder compartments so I can feed fondant/pollen sub whilst retaining the other side for syrup. I reckon coating the exposed edge with varnish and stopping with a bung when not in use would be sufficient. Anyone else done this? Thanks

I'm trying mini mating nucs for the first time this year. A cup of bees tends to be the recommended quantity, I've got 20+ to populate so just wondering how a 14*12 frame full of bees relates to a cup? Thanks